Practice Opens for the 2025 PRI Hoosier 500 Mile Race

Today marks December 1, meaning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is open – virtually. Practice for the 2025 PRI Hoosier 500 began in earnest at 8:00 AM Eastern, and with it arrives the first glimpse at what this record-breaking field of 128 hopefuls might become.

The tone shifts the moment cars take their out-laps. This year’s entry list has carried a certain weight – six past iRacing Indy 500 top-split winners, two former Hoosier 500 champions, a returning pole sitter, and drivers from 16 different countries. By all accounts, one of the most stacked fields in iRacing, a hallmark of this event each fall.

CHECK IT OUT: 2025 PRI HOOSIER 500 ENTRY LIST

The biggest storyline heading into practice is simply the size and strength of the field. A record 128 entries shattered the previous high watermark of 114 set in 2020, a sign of how far this event has surged since its rebirth under the ownership of Ryan Schuld and Tanner Watkins.

Since 2020, the Hoosier 500 has endured ownership changes, a brief blackout from streaming during iRacing’s INDYCAR license lapse, and generational shifts within the open-wheel sim community. Yet the constant remains that drivers see fall as time to compete once again at Indy – something that only 33 of them will ultimately earn.

That scale creates its own subplots. A staggering number of veterans, some with multiple prior Hoosier 500 appearances, look at 2025 as an opportunity to rewrite their own résumés. Rookies aiming to make their first appearances at the World’s Greatest Sim Race.

While it’s no secret that iRacing will introduce updated engine hybrid technology to the simulation by race week, laps made in practice this week will not be in vain. The Ironman Award includes not only a cash prize for the most laps completed in practice through the month, but also a complimentary button box from Derek Speare Designs.

Couple that with many newcomers and the intensity that will build through the week as Swift Penguin Creations Qualifications Weekend approaches, and practice should be far from tame.

That’s the beauty of Opening Day. None of the 128 drivers are eliminated yet. None of the heartbreaking “bumped” moments have happened. Everyone walks in with the same hope: that they’ll be one of 33.

The track is open. Practice is underway. The race to make the PRI Hoosier 500 begins now.